Probably trained in Bruges, Juan de Flandes immigrated to Spain to serve at the court of Isabella of Castile. In this painting he suppressed his own individual style and closely copied one of the panels in Rogier van der Weyden’s Triptych of the Virgin (Gemäldegalerie, Berlin), which had been owned by Isabella’s father, King Juan II. The spiritual power and artistic status of Rogier’s original could have prompted Isabella to order an exact copy. The queen bequeathed her version to her burial site, the Capilla Real, Granada, where the copy’s center and left panels remain to this day.

Catalogue Entry

This painting is based on the far right panel of a slightly larger, but otherwise nearly identical stationary triptych in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, known as the Miraflores Altarpiece, after a Carthusian monastery outside of Burgos, Spain. The MMA panel was joined originally to a central panel with an image of the Pietà and a left panel of the Nativity. Both the central and left panels remain in the Capilla Real, in Granada, Spain, the earliest known location of the triptych. Christ appears to his mother after his Resurrection, which can be seen in the background through the double doors of the architectural space. This moment when Christ reveals himself to his mother after his death is not mentioned in the Bible, but can be found in the thirteenth-century Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ by the Pseudo-Bonaventure. The poses of the two main figures are similar to the traditional poses of Gabriel and the Virgin in Annunciation scenes, indicating an understanding of this image as an annunciation of eternal life. The text on the border of the Virgin’s cloak comes from the Magnificat—Mary’s acknowledgement of the Incarnation in the Gospel of Luke, and her response to her cousin Elizabeth’s recognition of her as the mother of the savior. The decorative arch which frames the figures contains sculpted scenes from the end of Mary’s life. They are, in chronological order, counterclockwise from the center of the arch: the holy women telling the Virgin of their visit to Christ’s tomb, the Ascension, Pentecost, the annunciation of Mary’s impending death, the Dormition of the Virgin, and the Assumption. Below these scenes are pedestals with the figures of Saint Mark the Evangelist on the left and Saint Paul on the right. Two of the column capitals in the interior show sculpted scenes which prefigure Christ’s triumph over death: David’s conquering of Goliath on the front left, and Samson and the Lion and Samson Carrying Away the Gates of Gaza on the back right. At the apex of the arch an angel hovers, carrying a crown and a banderole which reads: Mulier h[a]ec perseveravit vi[n]cens o[mn]ia ideo / data e[st] ei corona. (This woman persevered, conquering all; therefore a crown was given unto her.) (Apocalypse 6:1). The three panels of the original triptych together formed a chronology of the most significant events in the life of the Virgin.

At some point before 1632, this panel was separated from the other two, which were cut down to fit the doors of a reliquary for King Philip IV of Spain in the Capilla Real. These two panels and the one in the MMA are often collectively referred to as the Granada-New York altarpiece. The complete triptych is nearly identical to the Miraflores Altarpiece of about 1440 in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. In 1908 Gómez-Moreno claimed that the Granada-New York panels were painted by Rogier van der Weyden (ca. 1399–1464), leading to a nearly unanimous agreement by scholars that this grouping was the original, and the Berlin triptych an excellent copy by a member of Rogier’s workshop. Technical examination has since revealed that the Miraflores Altarpiece is by Rogier, and the Granada-New York altarpiece, the copy. It was believed that the Miraflores triptych was a gift from Pope Martin V to Juan II, King of Castile (1405–1454). However, Martin died in 1431, making this unlikely. It has been suggested that Juan II gave the triptych in 1445 to the Carthusian monastery of Miraflores, near Burgos, where he was later buried. The Granada-New York triptych is a smaller copy, which belonged to Juan II’s daughter, Isabella I of Castile (1451–1504). It is likely that Isabella commissioned her own, more portable version for private devotion from one of her court artists, namely Juan de Flandes or Michel Sittow (Ainsworth 1998). Like her father, she bequeathed her version to her final resting place, the Capilla Real in Granada.

Rainald Grosshans (1981) was the first to recognize that the Berlin version is the original by Rogier, and the Granada-New York version a high-quality copy. With the use of infrared reflectography, it was revealed that the underdrawing of the Berlin triptych demonstrates the hook-ended lines characteristic of Rogier’s drawing style. The underdrawing also revealed that the artist had made changes in the design of the panel of Christ Appearing to His Mother, particularly in the background architecture and the draperies of the Virgin. By contrast, the MMA Christ Appearing has an underdrawing which closely resembles the finished state of the painting. Grosshans was also the first to recognize a difference in the perspective system: the Miraflores panel demonstrates an empirical perspective, while the design of the MMA panel has been subtly shifted to conform to a one-point perspective system. One-point perspective is characteristic of a later stage of Netherlandish painting than Rogier’s. The stylization of the shrubbery in the background of the Berlin panel is more in keeping with Rogier’s usual style. In the MMA panel, the foliage is painted with a greater attention to naturalism, which is more in keeping with paintings from the end of the fifteenth century. The ground preparation of the Metropolitan’s version is calcium sulfate, or gypsum, which is the traditional preparation for southern European paintings, rather than the typical ground preparation of Northern paintings, calcium carbonate, or chalk. This suggests that the Museum’s painting was made in Spain in the presence of the Berlin example that it copies. Peter Klein (1989) gave the most definitive proof of the MMA panel being a copy after Rogier’s original. His use of dendrochronology revealed that the wood used for the Berlin panel dates from 1435, but the Museum's version of Christ Appearing to His Mother dates to around the mid-1490s, some thirty years after Rogier’s death.

Michel Sittow and Juan de Flandes have each been suggested as the possible painter of this panel. Both were artists who trained in Bruges, but were called to Spain by Isabella to work at her court. Isabella favored Bruges artists, partly because of the trade connection between Bruges and Castile. The recent work by Maryan Ainsworth (2008) indicates that Juan de Flandes is the artist of the MMA painting. He is known to have been in Burgos, painting a Saint John the Baptist altarpiece for the Miraflores monastery between 1496 and 1499, the time when the altarpiece of which this panel is part was produced. Ainsworth compared the underdrawing revealed by infrared reflectography with the underdrawing found in panels from the Saint John the Baptist altarpiece, as well as in two other paintings by Juan in the Museum's collection, The Marriage Feast at Cana (1982.60.20) and Saints Michael and Francis (58.132). In all of these a quill pen was used, from which the ink does not flow evenly, causing darker and thicker areas of the line, and some slapdash spots of ink. Juan marks the area of Christ’s beard and moustache with dots of ink, rather than a drawn line, a technique he uses in the underdrawings for the other paintings as well. The painting technique in Christ’s robe, where shadows and highlights are created with parallel strokes of dark and light paint over the underpaint, is also characteristic of Juan’s style.

Isabel la Católica, Queen of Castile and León (d. 1504; inv. 1505, of altarpieces and objects of devotion to be taken to Granada); Capilla Real, Granada (1505–before 1632); Dukes of Osuna, Valencia; [art market, Spain, for several years shortly before 1908]; private collection, London, about 1906–about 1912; [Duveen, London, by 1912–17; sold to Dreicer]; Michael Dreicer, New York (1917–21)

M[anuel]. Gómez-Moreno Holt, Rinehart and Winston. "Un trésor de peintures inédites du XVe siècle à Grenade." Gazette des beaux-arts, 3rd ser., 40 (1908), pp. 301–2, publishes the two newly discovered panels in Granada as autograph works by Rogier and, admitting that he has not seen it, suggests that the Berlin triptych, from the convent of Miraflores, is a copy [does not mention the present work].

Wilhelm von Bode. "Roger van der Weydens sogen. Reisealtar Kaiser Karls V. im Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum und der Altar mit den Gleichen Darstellungen in der Capilla Real des Doms zu Granada." Amtliche Berichte aus den königlichen Kunstsammlungen 30 (1908–09), cols. 29–35, pl. 15, judging from photographs of the Granada panels and our "Christ Appearing to His Mother" (then on the art market in Spain) finds them to be stronger than the Berlin altarpiece in the handling of the landscape and architecture and in the observation of light and shadow; notes that some of the heads in the panels still in Spain are more impressive than their counterparts in the Berlin triptych and that in general the handling of the former is freer; concludes that the Granada triptych must be the altarpiece by Rogier that Pope Martin V presented to Juan II (see Notes), and calls the Berlin altarpiece a workshop repetition made for Spain under Rogier's supervision, probably not much later.

Valerian von Loga. "Zum Altar von Miraflores." Jahrbuch der Königlich Preuszischen Kunstsammlungen 31 (1910), pp. 54–56, believes that the triptych by Rogier that King Juan II gave to the Convent of Miraflores (see Notes) was brought at Isabella's request to the Royal Chapel at Granada, at which time a copy, possibly by Juan Flamenco [Juan de Flandes], was substituted in its place; notes that the third panel from the ensemble [our picture] was for some time on the art market but has since disappeared without a trace; observes that since the latter was not cut down like the Granada panels to fit the doors of a reliquary made for Philip IV in 1632, it must have been separated from them by that date; mentions a free copy after the composition of Christ Appearing to His Mother owned by Durlacher Bros. in London [now National Gallery of Art, Washington], noting that it also came from Spain.

A. J. Wauters. "Roger van der Weyden—I." Burlington Magazine 22 (October 1912–March 1913), pp. 81–82, pl. 1, calls the Berlin triptych an "ancient copy" and believes that the Granada-New York panels were ordered from Rogier in 1425 by the Magistrate and Chapter of Saint Pierre in Louvain as an offering to Pope Martin V to facilitate the granting of a charter for the proposed University of Louvain; translates the Latin inscription transcribed by Antonio Ponz in 1783 from the Bercerro of the monastery of Miraflores, in which it is stated that in 1445 [at the founding of the monastery], Juan II gave to it at great cost an "oratory" with the "Nativity," the "Descent from the Cross," and "Christ's Appearance to His Mother" by Master Rogel, a great and famous Fleming; places the present work in the possession of Duveen Brothers.

Friedrich Winkler. Der Meister von Flémalle und Rogier van der Weyden. Strasbourg, 1913, pp. 36, 101–3, 166–68, considers the Granada-New York triptych an early work by Rogier and the Berlin panels a copy; incorrectly reports the observation of Tschudi (Jahrbuch der Königlich Preussischen Kunstsammlungen, 19, 1898, pp. 21 f.), regarding the Berlin triptych, that the gesture of John the Baptist in the Master of Flémalle's Werl altarpiece of 1438 was taken from the figure of Christ in the panel of Christ Appearing to His Mother, stating, in an apparently unconscious error, that the source was the figure of the Baptist in the central panel of the Granada-New York triptych; notes that the panel of Christ Appearing was with Duveen Brothers in London from 1912, and that, according to information from Traumann in Madrid came from the collection of the Dukes of Osuna in Valencia, and was for six years in a private collection in England.

Max J. Friedländer. Von Eyck bis Bruegel: Studien zur Geschichte der Niederländischen Malerei. Berlin, 1916, pp. 24–25, 175, considers Christ in our panel to be the source for the figure of John the Baptist [Prado, Madrid] in the Werl altarpiece of 1438, establishing a terminus ante quem of 1438 for the Granada-New York triptych; calls the Berlin version an excellent copy from Rogier's workshop and very probably the work given to the convent of Miraflores by Juan II.

Frank Jewett Mather Jr. "Christ Appearing to His Mother by Rogier de la Pasture." Art in America 5 (April 1917), pp. 143–49, ill., calls the Berlin triptych a "good old copy," and discusses the iconography of our panel; ascribes the painting of this subject in Washington to a folllower of Rogier.

Martin Conway. The Van Eycks and Their Followers. London, 1921, pp. 134, 138, 140–41, 158–59, notes that the "Granada original" may have come from Miraflores and the Berlin altarpiece, which he calls an ancient copy or studio replica, substituted in its place; dates the Granada-New York triptych before Campin's Werl wing of 1438 (see Ref. Friedländer 1916), although he observes that there may have been an earlier source for both the figure of Christ and John the Baptist.

Malcolm Vaughan. "Rogier van der Weydens in America." International Studio 90 (July 1928), pp. 41–42, calls a painting of this subject in the Duveen collection [now National Gallery, Washington] a late work by Rogier.

Jules Destrée. Roger de la Pasture—van der Weyden. Paris, 1930, vol. 1, pp. 94–98, 199; vol. 2, pl. 15, considers the Granada-New York triptych to be the original by Rogier presented by Juan II to the convent of Miraflores, observing that it is unclear where the Berlin copy came from; ascribes the painting of Christ Appearing to his Mother [now National Gallery, Washington] to a follower of Rogier.

Karl von Tolnai. "Zur Herkunft des Stiles der van Eyck." Münchner Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst, n.s., 9 (1932), p. 337, believes the pose of Christ in our panel was copied from the figure of John the Baptist in the Werl wing of 1438; dates our painting later than 1438 but earlier than the Prado Deposition which he places in 1440.

Chandler Rathfon Post. A History of Spanish Painting. Vol. 4, The Hispano-Flemish Style in Northwestern Spain. Cambridge, Mass., 1933, part 1, pp. 23–25, calls the Granada-New York triptych the original, and possibly the one given by Juan II to the Convent of Miraflores.

Max J. Friedländer. Die altniederländische Malerei. Vol. 14, Pieter Bruegel und Nachträge zu den früheren Bänden. Leiden, 1937, p. 84, follows Renders in rejecting the connection of the figure of Christ in our panel with that of John the Baptist in the Werl wing as a basis for dating the Granada-New York triptych, and observes that the gesture of the hand is the same in the Saint Veronica from the abbey of Flémalle (now in the Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt); dates the Granada-New York altarpiece between 1440 and 1445.

Charles de Tolnay. Le Maître de Flémalle et les frères van Eyck. Brussels, 1939, pp. 43–44, erroneously calls our panel "Christ Appearing to the Magdalen," and sees the Granada-New York altarpiece as the work of a "débutant".

Friedrich Winkler. "Flémalle-Meister-Dämmerung?" Pantheon 7 (July 1941), p. 151, includes the Granada-New York triptych in a group of works which he dates between 1438 and 1445.

Charles de Tolnay. "Flemish Paintings in the National Gallery of Art." Magazine of Art 34 (April 1941), p. 185, ill., mentions our panel in connection with the painting of the same subject in Washington, which he ascribes to Vrancke van der Stockt.

Martin Davies. National Gallery Catalogues: Early Netherlandish School. London, 1945, pp. 115–16 n. 2, calls a painting of this subject by a follower of Rogier (National Gallery, London) "a weak reminiscence" of our panel and mentions a similar painting ascribed to the Ursula Master (MMA 32.100.63b), also inspired by Rogier's composition.

Harry B. Wehle and Margaretta Salinger. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Catalogue of Early Flemish, Dutch and German Paintings. New York, 1947, pp. 30–34, ill., believe that Rogier adapted the figure of Christ in this composition from Campin's John the Baptist in the 1438 Werl wing (Prado, Madrid) and cite Friedländer's dating of the MMA picture between 1440 and 1445.

Leo van Puyvelde. The Flemish Primitives. Brussels, 1948, p. 26, mentions the Granada-New York triptych first and calls the Berlin altarpiece a replica; erroneously adds that there is also a replica in the Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt.

Hermann Beenken. Rogier van der Weyden. Munich, 1951, pp. 41–43, 47, 50–51, 55–56, pl. 33, ascribes the Granada-New York altarpiece to Rogier, shortly before or in 1438, and calls the Berlin triptych a somewhat later copy, not from the Master's hand.

Art Treasures of the Metropolitan: A Selection from the European and Asiatic Collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1952, p. 226, no. 96, ill.

Ludwig Baldass. Jan van Eyck. New York, 1952, p. 89 n. 1, believes that Rogier copied the gesture of Christ in our painting from the figure of John the Baptist in Campin's Werl wing.

Erwin Panofsky. Early Netherlandish Painting: Its Origins and Character. Cambridge, Mass., 1953, vol. 1, pp. 259–60, 262–64, 279, 315, 349, 460–61 n. 3 (to p. 259), nn. 1–2 (to p. 260), p. 463 nn. 1–11 (to p. 263); vol. 2, pl. 183, believes the Granada and Miraflores altarpieces were both produced in Rogier's workshop between 1437 and 1438, although the Miraflores (Berlin) triptych must have been the second "edition"; transcribes and completes the inscriptions on banderoles held by angels and gives their sources; observes that the "rare" subject of Christ Appearing to His Mother may have been suggested by the patron, since it appears in a number of 14th-century Spanish altarpieces; identifies the figure with a lion on the column capital at the right as Samson rather than Daniel [see Ref. Wehle and Salinger 1947].

Leo van Puyvelde. La peinture flamande au siècle des van Eyck. Paris, 1953, p. 140, attributes the Berlin triptych to Rogier before 1431 and considers the Granada-New York triptych to be a later work of his at a time when his palette was lighter.

Julius S. Held. "Erwin Panofsky, 'Early Netherlandish Painting, Its Origin[s] and Character'." Art Bulletin. Vol. 37, September 1955, pp. 227–28, calls the Berlin altarpiece blatantly inferior in craftsmanship to the Granada-New York triptych, noting that Rogier surely had no hand in the execution of the Berlin work.

Ruth Massey Tovell. Roger van der Weyden and the Flémalle Enigma. Toronto, 1955, pp. 26, 37, 58 n. 3, ill. opp. p. 26, calls the Granada-New York triptych the original and the Berlin altarpiece an excellent replica; dates our panel after the Werl wing of 1438, which she ascribes to Rogier rather than Campin.

Valentin Denis. Thierry Bouts. Brussels, 1957, p. 10, dates the Granada-New York triptych about 1430, noting that Bouts and Christus were influenced by Rogier's use of the architectural framing device.

F. Baudouin. "De kroning van Maria door de h. drieëenheid in de vijftiende-eeuwse schilderkunst der Nederlanden." Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts Bulletin 8, nos. 1–4 (1959), pp. 190–93, 200, 218, 227, 229, figs. 10–11 (overall and detail), believes that Dieric Bouts's painting, "The Coronation of the Virgin," (Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Vienna) is based on the same lost prototype as the grisaille of the Coronation on the archivolt of our panel; suggests that the prototype was the creation of the Master of Flémalle.

Johannes Taubert. "Die Beiden Marienaltäre des Rogier van der Weyden." Pantheon 18 (March 1960), pp. 67–75, ill., believes that the Berlin "Christ Appearing to the Virgin" is the only panel of the Granada-New York and Berlin triptychs that can be attributed to Rogier; calls the two other Berlin panels Hispano-Flemish copies after lost originals; considers the Granada-New York triptych the work of a superior copyist from the end of the 15th century, based on the panels in Berlin.

Karl M. Birkmeyer. "The Arch Motif in Netherlandish Painting of the Fifteenth Century, part 1." Art Bulletin 43 (March 1961), pp. 1–20, ill., discusses the sources of the arch motif as used by Rogier in the Mary Altar, and the subsequent use of this motif by his followers.

Leo van Puyvelde. "La genèse de la forme artistique chez Rogier van der Weyden." Stil und Überlieferung in der Kunst des Abendlandes: Akten des 21. Internationalen Kongresses für Kunstgeschichte in Bonn 1964. Berlin, 1967, vol. 1, p. 55, considers the Berlin altarpiece Rogier's original, dating it before 1431, when he was still apprenticed to Campin; calls the Granada-New York triptych a replica of higher quality, suggesting that it was painted later by Rogier in a smoother style and with a lighter palette.

Charles D. Cuttler. Northern Painting from Pucelle to Bruegel. New York, 1968, pp. 114–15, ill., dates the Granada-New York triptych about 1440–44, calling it the original Mary Altarpiece and the Berlin version a contemporary workshop copy.

Margaret Whinney. Early Flemish Painting. New York, 1968, pp. 60–61, 149 n. 4, observes that neither of the two altarpieces is "apparently entirely by Rogier himself".

Micheline Sonkes. "Le dessin sous-jacent chez les primitifs flamands." Institut Royal du Patrimoine Artistique Bulletin 12 (1970), pp. 202, 205–6, notes that the underdrawing in the Granada-New York triptych is purely linear, and that it reveals numerous corrections in the details, but no important structural changes; observes that the style of the drawing is unified throughout the three panels and comparable to underdrawing found in the Virgin and Child with Saints Cosmos and Damien (Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt) and the Virgin and Child in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Caen, both generally ascribed to Rogier.

Micheline Sonkes. "Le dessin sous-jacent chez Roger van der Weyden et le problème de la personnalité du Maître de Flémalle." Institut Royal du Patrimoine Artistique Bulletin 13 (1971/72), pp. 161–67, 172, 179, 202–3, notes that the underdrawing in the Berlin triptych does not reveal to the same degree as that in the Granada-New York panels the work of the "artiste créateur," and that it seems to be of lesser quality, observing that if the Berlin triptych is the work of a single artist, it is not the same one that conceived and without doubt executed the Granada-New York panels; calls the Berlin triptych apparently a copy of the Granada-New York panels with inexplicable variations in its underdrawing in relation to the original.

Martin Davies. Rogier van der Weyden: An Essay, with a Critical Catalogue of Paintings Assigned to Him and to Robert Campin. London, 1972, pp. 16–18, 200, 213–16, 230, pl. 15, considers the Granada-New York triptych the original and the Berlin altarpiece a good, very exact old version; dates the former after the Prado Deposition, which he places no later than 1443, and observes that any connection in the pose of John the Baptist in Campin's 1428 Werl wing and the figure of Christ in our panel is not a good basis for dating the Granada-New York triptych, since both figures may have been based on an earlier source that has not survived.

James Douglas Farquhar. "Martin Davies, Rogier van der Weyden." Art Journal 35, no. 2 (Winter 1975–76), p. 182, notes that a gesture similar to that of Christ in our panel and John the Baptist in the Werl wing is found in Campin's Saint Veronica, which is generally thought to predate both paintings.

Rainald Grosshans. "Early Netherlandish Painting: Notes on the History of the Collection [Gemäldegalerie, Berlin]." Apollo 102 (December 1975), p. 427, observes that the Berlin triptych is generally regarded as an excellent repetition of Rogier's Granada-New York altarpiece.

Anne Simonson Fuchs. "The Netherlands and Iberia. Studies in Netherlandish Painting for Spain: 1427–1455." PhD diss., University of California at Los Angeles, 1977, pp. 40–82, questions the tradition maintained by the cartuja of Miraflores that the altarpiece was a gift of Juan II from Pope Martin V, observing that the latter's 1431 death date would necessitate too early a date of execution for the triptych; suggests instead that it was more likely given to Juan by Eugenius IV; discusses the iconography of the two altarpieces in great detail and links their iconography with that of Rogier's "Saint John Altarpiece" (Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt); discusses the iconography in great depth.

Lorne Campbell. Van der Weyden. New York, 1977, pp. 6, 8, 38–39, ill., believes that the Granada-New York panels were "designed" by Rogier and that the Berlin altarpiece is a replica executed in his workshop.

Barbara G. Lane. "Rogier's Saint John and Miraflores Altarpieces Reconsidered." Art Bulletin 60 (December 1978), p. 655 n. 1, p. 672, using the Berlin triptych "for ease of comparison," discusses Rogier's Mary Altarpiece and Altarpiece of John the Baptist, stressing their iconographic similarities and observing that the former "conveys the meaning" of the Holy Eucharist and the latter, that of Baptism; believes that these triptychs were planned together, perhaps for side chapels in the same church, and that although they may not have been executed at the same time, there is no evidence for dating them as far apart as scholars generally do.

Edwin Hall and Horst Uhr. "'Aureola' and 'Fructus': Distinctions of Beatitude in Scholastic Thought and the Meaning of Some Crowns in Early Flemish Painting." Art Bulletin 60 (June 1978), pp. 249, 254, 258–62, 264–65, interprets the crown held by an angel in each panel of the Granada/New York and Miraflores altarpieces as symbolic of Mary's triple "aureola" as virgin, martyr and doctor, and observes that in our panel her martyrdom through her son is stressed.

Rainald Grosshans. "Rogier van der Weyden: Der Marienaltar aus der Kartause Miraflores." Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen 23 (1981), pp. 49–112, pls. 14 (diagram of perspective scheme) and 22 (infrared photograph), notes that according to his perception of Rogier's iconographic program, red as the symbol of martyrdom and sacrifice is the correct color for the Virgin's robe in the Pietà [she wears red in the Berlin Pietà, but blue in the Pietà of the Granada-New York triptych]; comments on the authoritative and spontaneous drawing style, with hatchings to indicate shadows, and the greater number of significant changes visible in infrared reflectograms of the Berlin triptypch as compared with infrared photographs of the Granada-New York panels; notes that while the perspective in the Berlin panels is conceived intuitvely and without a system as is most often the case in works generally accepted as by Rogier, all three of the Granada-New York panels have a single whitish point that is visble in infrared examination, through which almost all vanishing lines of the composition pass; concludes that the Berlin panels were painted first by Rogier and the Granada-New York triptych was painted later by a follower.

Albert Châtelet. "Le retable de Miraflores." Le dessin sous-jacent dans la peinture. Ed. Dominique Hollanders-Favart and Roger van Schoute. Colloque 3, Louvain-la-Neuve, 1981, pp. 63–72, following Comblen-Sonkes [see Refs. 1971–72] concludes that the Granada-New York triptych is the first version, discusses the iconographic program of the two triptychs observing that it is possible that the Miraflores triptych or both triptychs could date from about 1428, as would have been the case if the Miraflores altarpiece were given to Juan II by Pope Martin V.

Elisabeth Dhanens. "Van der Weyden. By Lorne Campbell [review of Campbell 1977]." Burlington Magazine 124 (1982), p. 367, calls the Granada-New York triptych one of the three works that may reasonably be attributed to Rogier "on grounds of tradition" and refers to the Berlin triptych as a replica.

Lorne Campbell. Letter to Katharine Baetjer. March 5, 1984, observes that the Grosshans article [see Refs. 1981] shows beyond doubt that the Miraflores altarpiece is the original and the Granada-New York altarpiece a copy, adding that "the note in the file that the ground is not chalk should have alerted me earlier"; notes that the copyist was obviously extraordinarily skillful, and suggests Juan de Flandes and Michiel Sittow as "the obvious candidates".

James Snyder. Northern Renaissance Art: Painting, Sculpture, the Graphic Arts from 1350 to 1575. New York, 1985, p. 127, states that this work and the version in Berlin "are so close in style that one can conclude that they are both excellent workshop productions, replicas for two different patrons".

James Snyder. "'The Joyous Appearance of Christ with a Multitude of Angels and Holy Fathers to His Dearest Mother': A Mystical Devotional Diptych by Jan Mostaert." Tribute to Lotte Brand Philip: Art Historian and Detective. Ed. William W. Clark et al. New York, 1985, pp. 178–79, ill., cites it as the one familiar representation of a subject otherwise rarely depicted in northern European painting.

Introduction by James Snyder inThe Metropolitan Museum of Art: The Renaissance in the North. New York, 1987, pp. 9, 24–25, ill. (color).

Peter Klein. "Dendrochronological Studies on Oak Panels of Rogier van der Weyden and His Circle." Le dessin sous-jacent dans la peinture. Ed. Roger van Schoute and Hélène Verougstraete. Colloque 7, Louvain-la-Neuve, 1989, pp. 28, 33–35, postulates a presumed date of painting for this panel of 1494, or ten years after the 1484 felling date of the tree, and a presumed date of painting for the Berlin triptych of 1437; concludes that it is impossible that our painting could be by Rogier, and adds that analysis of the two Granada panels might reveal an even later felling date.

J. R. J. van Asperen de Boer, J[eltje]. Dijkstra, and R[oger]. van Schoute, with the assistance of C. M. A. Dalderup, and Jan Piet Filedt Kok. "Underdrawing in Paintings of the Rogier van der Weyden and Master of Flémalle Groups." Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 41 (1990), pp. 237, 243–49, figs. 295, 302–3 (overall, detail, and infrared reflectogram assembly of detail), attribute the underdrawing in the Miraflores altarpiece to Rogier himself, except perhaps for the architecture, observing that Rogier would probably have done much of the first underpainting but was not necessarily responsible for all the remaining paint layers; add that other hands in the workshop may have been involved in the actual painting but that "it was virtually impossible that any such hands" were involved in both triptychs; note that the underdrawing in the Granada-New York triptych is linear and two dimensional, and that on the basis of dendrochronolgical findings (see Ref. Klein 1989) the panels must be copies, almost certainly executed after the surface of the Miraflores altarpieces and not from drawings; find it plausible that the Granada-New York copy was commissioned by Isabel of Castile in honor of her father, and observe that this would fit with the probable creation date of 1484 or shortly thereafter, and the calcium sulphate ground (used south of the Alps) of our picture.

Jeltje Dijkstra. "Origineel en Kopie: Een Onderzoek naar de Navolging van de Meester van Flémalle en Rogier van der Weyden." PhD diss., Universiteit van Amsterdam, 1990, pp. 78–86, 95–109, 137, 188, 190–92, 234 n. 309, p. 242 no. 397, pp. 270–71, 294, observes that "it can be established without reasonable doubt [sic] . . . that this work was directly based on the original and was therefore made in Spain, presumably either by a Southern Netherlandish painter or one who was trained in that country"; concludes that Michel Sittow, who worked for Isabel between 1480 and 1504 is "the most likely candidate for the authorship of the copy".

Janey L. Levy. "The Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven: Ecclesiastical Authority and Hierarchy in the Beaune Altarpiece." Art History 14 (March 1991), pp. 22–23, ill.

Introduction by Walter A. Liedtke inFlemish Paintings in America: A Survey of Early Netherlandish and Flemish Paintings in the Public Collections of North America. Antwerp, 1992, p. 375, no. 496, ill.

Peter Klein. Letter to Maryan Ainsworth. December 22, 1992, notes that two of the surviving paintings from Juan de Flandes's John the Baptist altarpiece, "The Beheading of John the Baptist" (Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Geneva) and "The Banquet of Herodias" (Museum Mayer van den Bergh, Antwerp) are exectued on panels that come from the same tree as those used for the New York-Granada Mary altarpiece.

Maryan W. Ainsworth. "Implications of Revised Attributions in Netherlandish Painting." Metropolitan Museum Journal 27 (1992), pp. 59, 62–65, 68, 74–75 nn. 3–9, 11, 13–15, 17, figs. 1, 7, 9, 11 (overall and details), calls the Granada-New York triptych a copy by a very talented artist, who remains anonymous, after Rogier's own version in Berlin; comments in detail on differences between the two versions of "Christ Appearing to His Mother".

Catheline Périer-d'Ieteren et al. in "Apport des méthodes d'investigation scientifique á l'étude de deux peintures attribuées a Juan de Flandes." Genava, n.s., 41 (1993), pp. 107, 116, 117 nn. 7, 14, concludes on the basis of Klein's 1992 dendrochronological findings (see Ref. 1992) that the support for the Granada-New York altarpiece and Juan de Flandes's Feast of Herod were made at approximately the same moment, in a workshop for painters in the service of Isabella the Catholic, probably that of Juan de Flandes, perhaps shared with Michel Sittow.

Jochen Sander. Niederländische Gemälde im Städel, 1400–1550. Mainz, 1993, pp. 347, 349–50, ill., discusses the unresolved questions relating to high quality replicas of Rogier's work made after his death, including the Granada-New York panels.

Lorne Campbell inThe Dictionary of Art. Ed. Jane Turner. New York, 1996, p. 118, refers to the Granada-New York triptych as "painted in Spain probably for Isabella and possibly by one of her court painters trained in the Netherlands".

Matthias Weniger. "'Bynnen Brugge in Flandern': The Apprenticeships of Michel Sittow and Juan de Flandes." Memling Studies: Proceedings of the International Colloquium (Bruges, 10–12 November 1994). Ed. Hélène Verougstraete, Roger van Schoute, and Maurits Smeyers. Louvain, 1997, pp. 129–30, observes that the Granada-New York copy "lacks the quality of Juan's paint application," and that "a similar coarseness characterizes the two Granada panels of the Deposition from the Cross," usually ascribed to Memling but recently withdrawn from his oeuvre by Périer-d'Ieteren [see Périer-d'Ieteren et al. 1993 in TMS bibliography].

Otto Pächt. Early Netherlandish Painting from Rogier van der Weyden to Gerard David. Ed. Monika Rosenauer. London, 1997, p. 254 n. 18, the editor notes that he has replaced the Granada-New York triptych, discussed by Pächt in his notes as the primary version, with the Berlin altarpiece, now generally accepted as Rogier's original.

Maryan W. Ainsworth. "A Meeting of Sacred and Secular Worlds." From Van Eyck to Bruegel: Early Netherlandish Painting in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Maryan W. Ainsworth and Keith Christiansen. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1998, pp. 18–19, 26, 68, 81, 124, 210–11, 216–19, 222, no. 46, ill. (color), catalogues it as a copy after Rogier van der Weyden (possibly by Juan de Flandes or Michel Sittow), leaning more towards Juan, and suggests that it was commissioned by Isabella the Catholic at about the time her mother, Isabella of Portugal, died, in 1496.

Maryan W. Ainsworth. Gerard David: Purity of Vision in an Age of Transition. New York, 1998, p. 204 n. 111.

Maryan W. Ainsworth. "Commentary: An Integrated Approach." Early Netherlandish Painting at the Crossroads: A Critical Look at Current Methodologies. Ed. Maryan W. Ainsworth. New York, 2001, pp. 110–13, colorpls. 12–13 (overall and details) and fig. 40 (detail), compares a detail of shrubbery in our picture with the same detail in the Berlin panel, commenting on Rogier's schematic arc-shaped strokes in the latter work vs. the handling, in our picture, of a later artist, "informed by the firsthand observation of nature"; finds in Juan de Flandes "The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist" (Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Geneva) similarly handled shrubbery sprouting from the walls behind the executioner.

Molly Faries. "Reshaping the Field: The Contribution of Technical Studies." Early Netherlandish Painting at the Crossroads: A Critical Look at Current Methodologies. Ed. Maryan W. Ainsworth. New York, 2001, pp. 92, 96.

Lorne Campbell. Van der Weyden. London, 2004, pp. 9, 45–47, no. 15, ill., suggests that "Juan II was the original owner of the Granada altarpiece, which would ultimately have been inherited by his daughter Isabella, and [that he] commissioned a replica from Van der Weyden to give to Miraflores"; believes the Granada-New York panels were designed by Rogier and that the Miraflores altarpiece, now in Berlin, is a replica executed in his shop.